Q: We're interest in selling the family phonograph. It says "Cheney, patented Feb. 1916, Foster and Waldo Co., Minneapolis." There are also six albums. It's 42 inches wide and 21 inches deep and is in beautiful shape.
A: Forest Cheney founded the Cheney Talking Machine Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1914. Cheney was a concert violinist who was granted a patent for a new and improved sound reproducer for gramophones and an improved diaphragm for a sound reproducer in 1916. Cabinets for Cheney machines were made by Berkey & Gay Furniture Co. and other companies in Grand Rapids. We found a catalog picturing your phonograph that lists it as Cheney's Style 120. It was advertised for $265 in 1922. The "Early English Period" cabinet was available in mahogany or walnut. Foster and Waldo was a piano store in Minneapolis.
In 2008 I restored the exact same model, I sold it a few years later for 200$ it was a hard sell and this was in California/bay area. It looks like since I had mine some neat sites have popped up about the history. Cheney was taken out of business by victor victrola. Long story short they were caught coping their patents.
[url]http://www.antiquephono.org/cheney-talking-machines-r-j-wakeman/[/url]
[url]http://www.gracyk.com/cheney.shtml[/url]